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COCHABAMBA, BOLIVIA – OCTOBER 17th 2009
The Heads of State and of Government of the member countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – Peoples' Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), in the framework of its VIIth Summit in the city of Cochabamba, in the Plurinational State of Bolivia, on October 17th 2009, and in recognition of the five years since its foundation, underline its constitution as a social, economic and political Alliance in defence of the sovereignty, self-determination and identity of its peoples and as a reference point that “A better world is possible”.
ALBA-TCP defends the principles of International Law, especially with regard to sovereignty, the self-determination of peoples, the right to development, territorial integrity and the promotion of social justice and international peace and likewise the rejection of aggression, the threat or use of force, foreign intervention and of unilateral coercive measures against developing countries.
ALBA-TCP promotes the principles of solidarity, cooperation, complementarity, mutual respect for the sovereignty of our countries, justice, equity, respect for cultural diversity and harmony with nature, and plays a fundamental role in revolutionary and progressive processes at world level, thus becoming an alliance that promotes solidarity between the countries of the South.
200 years after the first Cries of Liberty in America, the ALBA-TCP Heads of State and of Government reaffirm their stalwart commitment to continue advancing towards independence, liberty, self-determination and union demanded by the peoples of Our America and of the Caribbean and declare:
I
1. Of its essence, capitalism and its highest expression, imperialism, are destroying humanity's very existence on Earth. The global economic crisis, the climate change crisis, the food crisis and the energy crisis are structural in character and are due, fundamentally to unsustainable patterns of production, distribution and consumption and to the concentration and accumulation of capital in very few hands, to the endless, indiscriminate looting of natural resources, to the commercialization of life and to speculation at every level for the benefit of a few.
2. The worldwide economic crisis that began in the developed countries and for which we are not responsible has greater impact on developing countries via the increase in poverty and unemployment. Far from registering a financing from the North of the South, one observes a growing tendency towards net transfers of capital from the South to the North. The purpose of dominant global economic policies is not to promote the well-being of human beings but to save some banks and companies.
3. The UN Conference at the Highest level on the Financial and Economic Crisis and its impact on Development” in June this year, despite its limitations, demonstrated the urgent need to advance towards the building of a new, just and equitable international economic order that will recognize and support the development objectives of the countries of the South, like the creation of new development mechanisms, the construction of a new international financial architecture. The consolidation of an alternative international currency and the development of just, solidarity-based, complementary trade.
4. The financial crisis will not be solved in the framework of the G-8 or the G-20 or other exclusive groups. The only possible solution will emanate from the G-192, represented by the General Assembly of the United Nations, where all countries have a voice and a vote under equal conditions. In this context it is necessary to give impetus to the Special Working Group of the General Assembly, of open composition, so as to maintain follow up to the crisis.
5. The global economic crisis cannot be solved only by financial, regulatory, monetary or economic measures. A structural crisis requires structural solutions. The support that developed countries are giving to the big banks increases centralization of financial sector capital in the hands of small groups, making more difficult the control and regulation of that sector. Likewise, appropriate supervisory mechanisms do not exist over the behaviour of large corporations and policies of free competition. For that reason, a profound transformation is needed of the real economy and not just the financial area.
6. To the global economic crisis one must add the climate change crisis which is part of the wider ecological crisis affecting our Mother Earth. Every year one third more than what the planet can regenerate is consumed. At this rate of waste by the capitalist system, two planets Earth will be necessary by 2030.
7. Human beings are part of an interdependent system of plants, animals, mountains, forests, oceans and air with which they ought to live in balance and harmony respecting the rights of all. To ensure human rights one must recognize the rights of Mother Earth. To do so, it is fundamental that the United Nations framework approves a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth.
8. Global warming and climate change are provoking the retreat and loss of glaciers, impacting water resources so as to diminish sources of drinking water, causing drought in different regions, greater frequency of hurricanes and natural disasters, loss of biodiversity and of human life.
9. Within the framework of a broader ecological debt, developed countries owe a climate debt to developing countries thanks to their historical responsibility for emissions and, as a result of the global warming they have caused, for the adaptive measures we are forced to carry out. This climate debt ought to be recognized and honoured via the dispositions of the current climate change regime:
a) substantial reductions in the emission of domestic greenhouse-effect gases to be determined on the basis of the proportion of global emissions required by developing countries to meet their social and economic development needs, to eradicate poverty and to achieve their right to development;
b) compliance with commitments for effective technology transfer and
c) guarantees for the provision of the necessary additional financial resources in an adequate, predictable and sustainable way, emphasizing that the adaptive requirements of developing countries have increased, as a consequence of the environmental crisis and highlighting that our countries need this climate debt payment so as to make possible our own mitigating actions.
10. In the UN Conference on Climate Change to be held in Copenhagen at the end of the year, developed countries, within the framework of the Kyoto protocols, should adopt significant commitments towards reducing the emission of greenhouse effect gases and approve compensation mechanisms for countries that preserve, protect and conserve their forests.
11. The"Yasuní ITT" initiative carried out by Ecuador is an effective voluntary measure to address the problem of climate change, guaranteeing the conservation of one of the most bio-diverse places in the world, an initiative for which Ecuador has given up exploiting 846 million barrels of oil that lie in the subsoils of the Yasuni National Park, which will avoid the emission to the atmosphere of 407 million tonnes of carbon which would otherwise be produced by the burning of those fossil fuels. This initiative will contribute to respect for the indigenous cultures of peoples in voluntary isolation who live in the Yasuni Park and also to social development, nature conservation and the promotion of the use of renewable energy sources.
12. The energy crisis is the product of irrational patterns of consumption imposed by rich countries and of monopoly and financial speculation to benefit large multinational companies.
13. To bring about a real change in energy access in the world , especially in developing countries carrying out efforts of cooperation, complementation, and regional integration is fundamental to the development of energy efficient models for generation, transmission and consumption and to the development of renewable energies guaranteeing access to services for the whole population.
14. Access to energy is a right peoples have that States should guarantee via the strengthening of their public policies, of defence of peoples' rights over their national natural resources and of the search for sources of alternative energy, always bearing in mind conservation and development in harmony with nature.
15. The negative impact of the food crisis on our peoples is one of the most pressing problems of the 21st century which requires urgent coordinated measures to ensure adequate, timely access to food and the food sovereignty and security of developing countries.
16. The irrational use of foods to produce bio-fuels is a practice that contributes to the food crisis, increases poverty, reduces forested areas and the amount of land available to satisfy food needs, makes these foods more expensive and increases the indiscriminate use of water.
17. Migration is not a crime. Discrimination and criminalization of migrants in all its forms should be abolished. Reform of the migratory policies of the government of the United States is urgent as is the revocation of the Return Directive of the European Union, with the aim of stopping deportations and mass detentions, permitting the reunification of families, eliminating the frontier wall of the United States with Mexico, which both separates and divides our peoples rather than uniting them. Discriminatory and selective laws and policies, that cause loss of human life, should be abrogated, among them the so-called “Cuban Adjustment Law” and the “dry feet – wet feet” policy applied by the United States government to irregular immigrants from Cuba.
18. In opposition to migration policies based essentially on security, imposed paradoxically in countries built on migrations, it is necessary to deepen dialogue and actions between countries of origin, transit countries and destination countries of migrants with the aim of dealing with migration in an integral, comprehensive way with a focus centred on the human being and respect for their rights.
19. Make clear their support for strengthening and creation of common mechanisms that reinforce the progress of Latin American and Caribbean countries on the interchange of experiences and best practices to combat the trafficking of persons, illegal trafficking of migrants, sexual and labour exploitation and other forms of exploitation.
20. Today South-South Cooperation has taken on great significance under the impact of capitalism's global economic crisis on the peoples and nations of the South. In this context, the Conference on South-South Cooperation to be held in Kenya in December 2009 assumes great importance.
21. Faced with the advance of progressive ideas and forces in Latin America and the Caribbean which can be seen, among other ways, in the strengthening of the ALBA-TCP, imperialism and right-wing forces have reacted with the Coup d'Etat in Honduras and the installation of military bases in Colombia.
22. The constitutional President of Honduras, compañero José Manuel Zelaya Rosales, ought to be reinstated immediately and unconditionally. No electoral process carried out under the coup government, nor the authorities emerging from it, can be recognized by the international community. The violation of human rights, the detentions and deaths suffered today by the Honduran people are aggravated by the failure of the delaying tactics of the dictatorship and the proximity of the fraudulent elections called so as to try and consolidate it. In this context it is fundamental to promote a diplomatic offensive and definite actions to re-establish fully Constitutional order.
23. The installation of US military bases in Latin America and the Caribbean causes mistrust between peoples, endangers peace, threatens democracy and facilitates hegemonic intervention in the continent. Latin America and the Caribbean constitute a zone of peace that should be free from the presence of military bases and foreign military forces that threaten our peoples. The Colombian government should reconsider the installation of those military bases. The territory illegally occupied by the US Naval Base in Guantanamo should be returned unconditionally to Cuba.
24. The economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States against the Republic of Cuba should end unconditionally, unilaterally and immediately.
25. It is unacceptable that different governments damage international norms by giving refuge and asylum to persons who do not qualify for such status in accord with the applicable international instruments and who are under process for crimes against humanity and terrorism, thus obstructing the clarification of their debts to justice.
26. Defending cultural identity and diversity is basic to the struggle against neo-colonialism. In that sense, it is important to move ahead with the re-evaluation and decriminalization of chewing coca leaf, and too to remove coca leaf from the List 1 of the 1961 Convention on Stupefying Drugs.
27. The effective integral struggle against narco-trafficking should take place with the strictest respect for sovereignty, non-intervention in internal affairs, shared responsibility and respect for human rights via regional and multilateral cooperative actions that expel forever neo-colonial practices of certification and decertification in relation to the issue and the withdrawal of trade concessions as applied by the United States of America with hegemonic political aims.
28. Communications media must carry out their social activity responsibly, ethically and as a public service for all citizens and not be tools of some minority sectarian interests, nor be used as tools of disinformation and political destabilization.
29. The process of building mutual trust between Bolivia and Chile so as to resolve the historic Bolivian demand for a sovereign return to the sea, in the framework of brotherhood, respect and trust between two sister peoples is an effort that deserves the support of the whole international community so as to arrive at tangible results.
30. The next general elections to be held on December 6th this year, highlight anew the democratic convictions of the ALBA-TCP countries in response to the coup-supportive attitudes and movements in Latin America and the Caribbean.
II
The Heads of State and of Government of the member countries of the “Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – Peoples' Trade Treaty” (ALBA-TCP) agree the following measures.
1. Approve the change in the name of the Single Regional Compensation Payments (SUCRE) System to the Unitary Regional Compensation Payments System (SUCRE), considering that the latter better expresses the sense of unity and the object of the SUCRE system. In line with that, they subscribe to the Constitutive Treaty of the Unitary Regional Compensation Payments System (SUCRE) as an instrument to reach monetary and financial sovereignty, eliminate dependency on the US dollar in regional trade, reduce asymmetries and consolidate progressively an economic zone of shared development. They instruct the technical Committees of the SUCRE to meet no later than the middle of November to address the SUCRE Implantation Plan. (1)
Note 1. The Commonwealth of Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines reserve their position on clothing but recognize the measure to strengthen trade between the ALBA-TCP countries. They salute the signing of the agreement between Venezuela and Bolivia. (Trans. See point 18)
2. Establish the Fundamental Principles that govern the Peoples' Trade Treaty (TCP) with the aim of developing regional trade based on complementarity, solidarity and cooperation towards Good Living.
3. Instruct the Economic Complementation Council to install the Working Group on Trade Complementation of the ALBA-TCP, entrusting it to present a proposal for a Peoples' Trade Treaty (TCO) based on the established Fundamental Principles.
4. Approve the Action Plan for Commercial Development in the ALBA-TCP's Shared Economic Zone with the aim of taking active measures as early as possible in this area.
5. Agree the creation of the Supranational Export-Import marketing company ALBAEXIM, so as to establish a complementary trade mechanism for the ALBA-TCP countries.
6. Agree to give impetus to cooperation between the competent bodies of the ALBA-TCP member countries towards signing a mutual agreement on the recognition of quality certificates in textile and other sectors.
7. Ratify the continuity of the “Supranational Literacy and Post-Literacy Project” and of the “Supranational ALBAMED Project”, prioritizing their financing with the aim of ensuring their sustainability, their planned range and, in the immediate future, the eventual incorporation of all member countries.
8. Instruct the Ministerial Social Council of ALBA-TCP to develop the various activities and projects identified in the areas of health, education, employment and housing.
9. Entrust to ALBA-TCP's Ministerial Social Council work on the proposal for integrated active measures on Health Monitoring for the Prevention, Detection and Timely Control of Emerging and Re-emerging Illnesses.
10. Instruct ALBA-TCP's Ministerial Social Council to incorporate among its areas of competence the issues of culture and sport.
11. Repeat the decision to speed up the processes for ratifying the Agreement on Recognition of University Degrees for its prompt implementation in accordance with the respective internal norms of the ALBA-TCP member countries.
12. Salute the creation of the ALBA-TCP Educational Editorial Fund whose aim is to create the facilities for the production, publication and distribution of educational texts and/or materials of common interest to member countries with the aim of strengthening educational policies for the benefit of our peoples; delegating its coordination to Bolivia.
13. Agree to prioritize and fund the Supranational ALBA-Education Project that regards the educational system as a continuous and integrated whole and contains lines of work in the areas of basic education and university education.
14. Approve the creation of a Working Group in the framework of the Council for Social Programmes to consider labour and social security issues, including the ALBA-TCP's Labour Competence Certification with the aim of designing projects that allow improved, dignified employment via recognition of training and experience as well as our people's ancestral know-how.
15. Urge the prompt establishment of a Ministerial Committee for Women and Equal Opportunities so as to constitute a pro-active space making visible the women of our peoples, that will ensure gender is made a transversal element in all the integration initiatives and instruments of ALBA-TCP.
16. Agree the constitution of an ALBA-TCP Ministerial Committee for Nature Defence, that will meet under the Political Council, and entrust it with producing an ALBA-TCP environmental agenda and making progress in the development and putting into practice of the rights of Mother Earth.
17. Suggest the creation of a group to study the setting up of an International Climate Justice Tribunal with the aim of making developed countries comply with the payment of their climate debt and also comply effectively with the reduction of their greenhouse gas emissions. The said Tribunal will be made up of representatives from developing countries who will take on the task of judging those responsible for the climate crisis our planet is living through.
18. Agree to give impetus to the constitution and strengthening of the Supranational Companies as an innovative instrument of the Peoples' Trade Treaty allowing them to maximize the capacities, experience and strengths of each country based on their potentials, diminishing asymmetries, strengthening complementarities, optimizing resources and consolidating projects that lead to structural, technological and economic development for the welfare of the peoples. To that end, they instruct:
• The convocation of Ministers and Secretaries from the Agricultural and Forestry sectors to the Second PETROCARIBE ALBA-Foods Council of Ministers scheduled for November 27th-29th 2009, in a location yet to be decided, with the aim of following up the portfolio of projects presented to the Technical Secretariat of ALBA-Foods, approve the constitutive bye-laws of the Supranational Company ALBA-Foods, and begin the road map to set up a Supranational Forestry Company within 90 days.
• In the case of the Supranational Energy Company, for the Working Group on energy integration to meet within a period of no more than 90 days so as to follow up the portfolio of projects presented to the ALBA-TCP Technical Secretariat as well as considering the political-legal realities of the alliance's countries, ending the negotiation of the Contract for the Establishment of the Supranational company and its bye-laws and the final definition of the State companies to be partners.
• The convocation of the competent Ministers in mining and metallurgy to sign an Act of Commitment within the period of three months for the creation of a Supranational Institute which will establish itself as INGEOALBA, a centre for research, prospecting and geological services for ALBA, which will permit our nations to create a geological map of our wealth, projecting in that way a fair value of our mineral resources and also the creation of a Supranational Mining and Metallurgy Company with the objective of developing joint plans and projects in the areas of prospecting, exploitation, transformation, addition of added value, marketing and closure of mines with respect for the human person and the environment.
• The convocation of the competent Ministers in iron, steel and aluminium to sign Acts of Commitment which will create two Working Groups that in a period of three months will set up a Supranational Company for Iron and Steel and another for Aluminium.
• As for the Industrial Supranational created and named the Supranational Socio-Productive Company of Venezuela and Bolivia of ALBA-TCP, it is agreed to create a technical Working Group made up of the ALBA-TCP Member States to carry out preliminary studies that will make known the feasibility of installing food processing plants in Bolivia.
19. Instruct the Ministerial Council for Economic Complementation, via the Working Group on Agro-Food Sovereignty to prepare a single consensual position of Member Countries with regard to food sovereignty in preparation for the next Food Sovereignty Conference to be held between November 16th and 18th this year.
20. Entrust to the recently formed ALBA-TCP Working Group on issues of International Law, Self-determination, Respect for Sovereignty and Human Rights the presentation of general orientations towards the creation of a body to contribute to the debate and preparation of an international position based on the reformulation of these issues based on our peoples' integral, inter-cultural vision.
21. Salute the discussion of the meeting of the Working Group on dispute resolution and, bearing in mind the sensitivity of the issue for our countries, instruct them to continue deepening their work so as to be able to make concrete proposals on the matter within 30 days in the city of Caracas, Venezuela.
22. Approve the reordering of the ALBA-TCP structure into three Ministerial Councils (Policy, Economic Complementarity and Social), Comittees under said Councils and Working Groups for specific tasks. Likewise, the Political Council is required to define the competencies, functions and working procedures of these various bodies.
23. Salute the proposals dealt with in the meeting of the Ministers of Tourism on the creation of a chain of Supranational ALBA Hotels, a Supranational Training and Preparation Institute for Basic Tourism Specialities and the Research Centre for Tourism Development and, too, the promotion necessary to continue strengthening networking among member countries in this area.
24. Support the efforts towards the creation of a Latin American and Caribbean organization composed of the region's 33 independent nations that will contribute to the consolidation of its political and economic independence, promoting integration, cooperation and solidarity among its peoples.
25. Agree to participate actively and to agree common positions in the Foreign Minister's meetings of the Rio Group and the Latin America and Caribbean Summit on Integration and Development (CALC) that will be held in Montego Bay in Jamaica from November 4th to 6th 2009.
26. Support in the broadest way the work of the ALBA-TCP Working Group to review the Doctrine of Industrial Property and approve the proposal to broaden the context of the Working Group's study via the incorporation of the Intellectual Property issue taking as a bearing a Model of Social Appropriation of Knowledge which goes beyond the limitations imposed by the international Intellectual Property System in the production of goods fundamental to life.
27. Agree to give impetus to the ALBA Satellite Project which has as its objective to use the Simón Bolívar Satellite for ALBA's member countries, offering rural telephone and internet broadband services. For that a Telecommunications Commission will be formed, made up of the bodies repsonsible for that issue. The same commission will define satellite solutions for the Region's countries within the framework of specific programmes presented by the responsible bodies of each country, the conditions for obtaining terrestrial reception rights for the Simón Bolívar satellite and too for its terrestrial broadcasting.
28. Form the Permanent Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America ALBA-TCP Sovereignty and Defence Committee whose main objectives will be to define a Strategic Peoples' Integral Defence Strategy and the establishment of a School for the Dignity and Sovereignty of the Armed Forces of the ALBA-TCP countries.(2)
(Note 2. Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines express their reservation inasmuch as they belong to the Regional Security System which is made up of the countries of the Eastern Caribbean.)
29. Instruct the Social Council to form a Working Group to develop the proposal of the creation of ALBA-TCP's Scientific Pole as an integrating measure for efforts towards the autonomous development of regional capacity in science and technology with industrial applications in pharmaceutical production, starting with the development of Quimbiotec as the Processing plant for Blood Derivatives for the ALBA-TCP countries.
30. Agree that the Political Council via a working group, should present a proposal for the analysis and development of the ALBA-TCP Radio South project, the creation of an ALBA-TCP news agency and the setting up of issue-based channels with co-production shared between the ALBA-TCP countries so as to give impetus to a communications model that allows a real meeting of our peoples, strengthens democratic processes in the region and breaks the communications barriers imposed by the large multinational media powers.
31. Instruct the Political Council to present a proposal to create an ALBA Film and Television School gathering together the experience of Cuba, Venezuela and all the ALBA-TCP countries.
32. Entrust to the Executive Secretariat the development and maintenance of a permanent information portal with information on ALBA-TCP's progress, achievements and proposals and, too, with how to guarantee continuing production and distribution of publications.
33. Take up the bi-national Media Observation project created by Venezuela and Ecuador and instruct the Political Council to take all the active measures necessary to broaden it to all the ALBA-TCP member countries as a measure to monitor the communications media with the aim of confronting the media war and reviewing in their respective countries the legal framework applicable to communications and information.
34. Instruct the Council for Economic Complementarity to set up a working group to evaluate the various alternatives for the design of a mechanism to manage international reserves within the ALBA-TCP framework that will be called the “ALBA-TCP Reserve Fund”.
35. Instruct the Social Council to give impetus to and to develop, via a working group, a proposal for a programme of attention to and protection for people with disability. This programme will include, among other things, psycho-bio-social and genetic studies which will permit the identification of the amount of the incidence of disability and its relation to poverty and social exclusion. The ultimate objective of this programme is to promote the efficient integration of people with disability, without discrimination, into all areas, productive, economic, political, social and cultural and to promote the development of the potential of people with disability as individuals.
36. Instruct the Social Council to present a project leading to the incorporation into the education systems of the ALBA-TCP countries of people historically excluded.
Signed in Cochabamba, in the Plurinational State of Bolivia on the seventeenth day of the month of October 2009.
For the Government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia
Evo Morales Ayma
President
For the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
Hugo Chávez Frías
President
For the Government of the Republic of Nicaragua
Daniel Ortega
President
For the Government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Ralph E. Gonsalves
Prime Minister
For the Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica
Roosvelt Skerrit
Prime Minister
For he Government of Antigua and Barbuda
Winston Baldwin Spencer
Prime Minister
For the Government of the Republic of Cuba
José Ramón Machado Ventura
First Vice-President of the Ministerial Council of State
For the Government of the Republic of Honduras
Patricia Rodas
Minister for Foreign Relations
For the Government of the Republic of Ecuador
Julio Oleas Montalvo
Vice-Minister of Foreign Trade and Integration